Re-Thinking Bo-Levi Mitchell

On the positive - this guy has the best winning percentage of CFL quarterbacks (in history) - I think its slightly better than Moon and certainly better than Kenny Ploen, Jack Parker, Matt Dunigan, Damon Allen, Hank Burris, Russ Jackson, Ron Lancaster, Peter Liske, Joe Kapp, Flutie, Calvillo, etc.

On the negative - he's managed to finesse his team into two consecutive Grey Cup games, mainly due to incredible hi-end regular season records that require only 1 win to advance to the big game.

In each Cup he faced teams that were either .500 (TO) or under .500 (OTT) and succumbed.

Last year he was over-powered by an elderly man (Burris) playing his final CFL game at age 41 and putting in a woefully mediocre effort.

This year he faced another sure-bet Hall of Famer in Ray - and while being better than last year - he just couldn't get the job done.

More than X's & O's - more than rah-rah and pre-game mindsets. Mitchell failed in key categories. One thing a QB has to do more than anything else is protect the football - and its not just picks or getting tackled and fumbling personally. When you're driving deep into an obviously sagging Argo territory and you're at their 10 yd line with 4 minutes to go - you do the math - YOU ENFORCE THE FACT TO ANYONE WHO COMES NEAR THE BALL - HOLD ON CUZ THE STRIP IS ON - GO DOWN IF THERE'S NO FREE SPACE - AND JUST LET OUR SPECIAL TEAMS KICK THE FIELD GOAL (OR EVEN SINGLE) that allows you to go up by 2 scores!

Marquay should never have rolled his fellow WR under the table but from a fan's perspective he was 100% correct. Allowing a 109 yd fumble return is cruel punishment to the team's loyal and everlasting fan base. Didn't help that Bo-Levi was the last man back and probably could have made a play on the returner - but as Mitchell is wont to do - he washed off the pursuit because he's BLM and he don't need to make no stinkin' safety like tackles (Mike Reilly would have pursued the guy to the ends of time, so would Matt Nichols, they're warriors, not cowards)

So that gets super-botched with a WR struggling for extra yds that weren't there. QB who cowards out of the pursuit when he could have served to either make the tackle or even slow the returner down so that other speedier guys could have reeled him in.

The final Rx is perhaps the worst sin of all. Down 3 w/ 12 sec. left and down around the Argo's 14 you throw a medium length hail-mary into double coverage to your shortest receiver. That's not good thinking, its stinkin' thinkin'.

You have the tie in hand, you have Argos who only scored on 100+ yd plays (busted coverage by Campbell, 109 yd fumble return) and a vaunted RB (Wilder, Jr.) that you held to 13 yds on 9 carries cuz your d-line is far superior to the argos o-line.
But you choose to air it out with a wobble-duck pass only Kevin Glenn could be proud of. Even if you pass short and run Messam twice - and fail - the worst you can do is a 95% certain field goal to tie.

Maybe that's why the NFL has steered clear of BLM - he's too bull-headed and doesn't have the field discipline and demeanour to work properly, NFL style. Sounds like a correct assessment to me.

PS.
The 3 stinks of the Game.

  1. Mitchell
  2. Dickenson
  3. Fumbler Boy

Bo-Levi. I like it.

Mitchell is the best QB in the league.

The fact you're blaming him for the fumble, and not making a tackle on the return is absolutely insane.

Guy played a great game, with one awful, awful throw in crunch time. Oh well. I'd take Mitchell over every QB in the league any day.

In the last two GC games I would take Henry Burris and Ricky Ray over BLM any day.

Doesn’t matter as much how he does in regular season, its how he plays when it counts.

I’d go with the 36 game regular season sample size, as opposed to two games.

All those regular season wins don't bring much happiness when the big win is still out of reach.

Without those regular season wins, you don’t have a chance to win the big one.

The 9-9 Argos didn’t need all the wins the Stamps got.

The ORBs didn’t need all the wins the Stamps had last year either.

I’m not seeing your point. This past two seasons the Stamps accumulated 28 wins regular season while their GC opponents accumulated 17 in total. Neither the ORBs or the Argos had a winning season % these past two seasons.
And in both GC games, the Stamps had the game taken to them - and they lost.

Calgarys success this season was because of their defense. Bo Levi didn't have that great of season.

I would take him over Durant any day :wink:

The only elite QB who never boasts about being elite nor ever is in the headlines over contract demands etc - is our GC champion and now holds the record for most GC rings ever.

Gotta be something to the way RR approaches his career.

I would take Mitchell over every QB in the league any day…except on a Sunday when the Grey Cup is played . :smiley:

You do realize the Stamps would have missed the playoffs with those records right?

That highlights the problem even more so. Stamps cannot win big games against supposedly much ‘worse’ teams. I don’t have much issue with the structure as it is and the crossover situation. Yesterday the two top teams from each division arrived in the big game. And one division leader beat the other - because they outplayed them.

Regular season records mean nothing in the playoffs. Riding on yesterday’s accomplishments does nothing but give the Stamps choke status.

It’s two games. They lost one in OT, and one on the last play of the game. Not a very significant sample size. I don’t think it represents a huge problem.

Ricky didn’t win Toronto that game, and was out played by Mitchel. Calgary out played Toronto, period. A bad fumble, and yes, a terrible pass play thrown my Mitchel sealed the deal. It was a dumb move, but shouldn’t have come to that. Mitchel did everything he had to, to win that game, up until the fumble. Had that not happened, you would not be singing this lame tune. Toronto’s D won them this game, period.

Bo-Levi is a good quarterback and a leader of men. He may become a great QB when he grows up, but right now, he is selfish and arrogant. Ten cups in 15 years, really son how bout concentrating on your second. The only thing worst for a team than an arrogant player is an arrogant leader. Calgary seems full of arrogant selfish players... conincidence or inevitable ?
I wouldn't want him on my team.

Why isn't anyone talking about Calgary's Head Coach?

Mitchell and the stamps won the Grey Cup in 2014 with Huff as HC.
Lots of the same core in place but a different HC who makes dumb calls in the worst moments of the big game two years in a row.

If Huff was still HC, i'd say stamps have back to back championships right about now.

I think it represents tremendous opportunity for all the teams with lesser records. Knowing that the best…really aren’t.

That team gave me a ton of entertainment last year, this year and I’m sure will again next year. I sat through the 70’s and 80’s so maybe the regular season means more to me than most of you. Jordan is a young player that will learn as I’m sure Bo will. I love everything about this team except their terrible black helmets. McDaniel may have just put a down payment on his ticket out of town. Not to worry though, I’m sure the green pretenders would welcome him to Regina.